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Save a Life Saturday blood drive set

Steve Fuson checks the arm of Roni Vaughn before she donates blood during a Community Blood Center blood drive in September 2012 at Richmond High School.(Photo: Joshua Smith/Palladium-Item file)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Blood donations are needed especially during winter months when fewer people are able to donate.

Several blood drives or events have been planned for January.

The fourth annual 'Baby Tressel Day' is Jan. 17 at the Richmond center.

The winter months are the most crucial for blood supplies, which often drop because of the holidays, travel schedules, inclement weather and illness.

That's why January is National Blood Donor Month and it's why the regional Community Blood Center is making an extra effort to provide donors with multiple ways to give the gift of life.

Donors at January blood drives will be eligible to receive a "Blood Drop Beanie" knit hat.

Blood drives are planned during the first part of January as part of an effort to ensure the Dayton-based regional Community Blood Center's reserves remain high and the center is able to provide the blood and blood products needed to its 25 partner hospitals, including Reid Hospital, in a 15-county service area.

Additionally, each event provides an opportunity to honor Community Blood Center donors, volunteers and staff members who have contributed to the organization's "50 Years of Saving Lives" legacy. The Community Blood Center celebrated its golden anniversary in 2014, marking 50 years since the blood bank opened its doors on Sept. 14, 1964. The tradition of a "National Blood Donor Month" began in January 1970.

It has become a tradition at the Community Blood Center in Richmond to mark "Baby Tressel Day" with a blood drive. The fourth annual event will be from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 17, at the Richmond center.

The event pays tribute to Tressel Meinardi, a 7-month-old who died following a tragic mistake during heart surgery in 2010. Born premature and with a heart condition, he died five days after having heart surgery on Aug. 16, 2010, at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The surgery went as planned until an operating room technician mistakenly flushed the baby's heart with alcohol instead of a saline solution.

His parents, Scott and Emilie Meinardi of Richmond, started the event in 2012 as a way to celebrate the outpouring of support the family received after the baby's tragic death. Emilie Meinardi said last year the event also symbolizes hope for their family and those who benefit from the gift of life.